CHAPTER 9 — VANESSA’S REAL NAME
Vanessa read the message twice.
Then she tore the photograph in half.
“My mother was named Olivia Vale.”
Adrian searched the foundation’s private records.
Olivia Vale had existed, but only on paper. No school records, medical files or photographs could be found before the year Vanessa was born.
A birth certificate listed Marcus as Vanessa’s father.
The attending nurse was Evelyn Carter.
Ethan watched Vanessa struggle to remain composed.
“If Daniel is your father, you are my sister.”
“Or someone wants us to believe that.”
Claire placed the damaged photograph on the table.
“Why would Evelyn lie?”
Vanessa looked at her.
“Ask your mother.”
“My mother is dead.”
“Your mother and Evelyn spent years switching identities. How do you know which sister died?”
Claire went still.
Vanessa revealed that Marcus had often called her “Evelyn” during private arguments. As a child, Vanessa assumed it was the name of an old employee.
Now she wondered whether Evelyn had raised her for several years under another identity.
They ordered a private DNA test between Ethan and Vanessa.
Before the results arrived, Margaret called an emergency board meeting.
She announced that Ethan had suffered a psychological breakdown following Claire’s accident. She planned to remove him as chief executive and appoint Marcus Vale temporarily.
Ethan entered the meeting with Claire and Vanessa beside him.
Marcus stared at his daughter.
“You have no idea what you are doing.”
Vanessa took the red dress from the night of Claire’s fall out of a garment bag and placed it on the boardroom table.
Sewn inside the lining was a small recording device.
“I know exactly what I am doing.”
The device contained Marcus’s instructions before the gala.
He ordered Vanessa to take Claire into the hallway, retrieve the brass key and make her fall appear accidental.
But the recording contained another voice.
Evelyn Carter.
“Do not let Claire leave before Ethan arrives,” Evelyn said. “He must see her on the floor.”
Claire looked horrified.
“Why would my aunt want Ethan to witness it?”
Vanessa continued playing the recording.
“Because he will look at the camera,” Evelyn answered. “And once he starts searching, Margaret will be forced to move Daniel.”
The entire incident had been designed to begin Ethan’s investigation.
Claire’s fall had not only been an attack.
It had also been bait.
Marcus attempted to leave, but Ethan blocked the door.
“Where is my father?”
Marcus smiled tiredly.
“You still don’t understand. The man at St. Aldwyn may be Daniel, but Daniel may not be your father.”
Before anyone could question him, federal investigators entered the boardroom.
They presented Ethan with an arrest warrant.
Human remains had been found beneath an abandoned Blackwood Foundation clinic.
The victim had been identified through dental records as Daniel Blackwood.
The warrant accused Ethan of hiding evidence connected to his father’s death.
As Ethan was taken away, Marcus leaned close to Claire.
“Your husband is going to prison.”
May you like
Then he whispered the true purpose of the arrest.
“Unless you give us the child.”
